Safe and Sound
by Sarabibliomania
Summary: She liked it better at sunset. When the sun would dip low and the world would catch fire in its slow burn. The frazzled braids she could never properly make would turn silver and I'd count the seconds until I had to look away.


Disclaimer: Originally I meant for this to be a Finnick and Annie story but I have such a soft spot for Cato and Clove that I wrote it for them instead. Safe and Sound is such a beautiful song and I thought I'd try something with it though I apologize for any wrong lyrics as I just found them off a website. I own nothing and enjoy!

_I remember tears rolling down your face_

She didn't cry. She never cried. Not when she was picked and a cheer rose up from the crowd or when the train pulled away from the station and our home became only a blurred memory behind us.

_When I said, I'll never let you go._

I told her I'd look after her in the arena. That all she had to do was call my name and I would be there to protect her.

_When all those shadows nearly killed your light_

Her mom used to braid her hair. Twisting her hair into intricate knots and humming an old lullaby no one remembered the words too but still knew the tune.

_I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone."_

I heard her whisper it to the cold lips of her mom, the press of them still closed over the last note and empty of words that now only she knew and no one else did.

_But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight_

I followed her after she ran out and she threw stones and roots against the trees and dirt until her palms ran ragged with blood and she stared up at the Heavens with the tune broken in the air and no longer a response to pay in kind.

_Just close your eyes / The Sun is going down_

I carried her back home as the sun set and bleed and hummed the tune with no words as her eyes closed in sleep and her fingers feebly pulled at my shirt as if afraid she'd fall or let go.

_You'll be alright / No one can hurt you now_

She'd murmur it as she'd throw her blades at the targets lined up for her and repeat it to the tune with no words. Fill in the blanks with her own mantra that she was not weak but strong and that being motherless and alone did nothing to make her a victim.

_Come morning light / You and I will be safe and sound_

I'd meet her down at the targets and she'd wait for me at the sword fighting. I watch in the bushes so she'd feel alone but safe and she'd watch me from the side lines so that I knew she was there silently pushing me on.

_Don't you dare look out your window, darling_

An old woman on my road called her husband darling and when annoyed she'd call me the same to mock us both and I called the same to show that I shared in the joke. But I'd watch them at the window, leading one another down the street and think of me in his place and her in hers.

_Everything's on fire._

She liked it better at sunset. When the sun would dip low and the world would catch fire in its slow burn. The frazzled braids she could never properly make would turn silver and I'd count the seconds until I had to look away.

_The war outside our door keeps raging on_

We would watch the games together, make our bets and think of what it would be like if one day we were in their place. The blood on our hands and the glory for our district written in our name. It was a game to them. It was a game to us.

_Hold onto this lullaby_

She'd hum the song again when she thought I wasn't listening. Bring words almost to her lips and forget them before they made shape. Her mother's name over and over that fell too short of what she really wanted to say.

_Even when the music's gone / Gone_

She never cried for her. Never shed tears over a name and a face now long ago gone. She just threw those knives while I watched and saw them as her longing and her anger together and her the victim lost somewhere in between.

_Just close your eyes / the sun is going down_

I said it to her first night in the arena. _Just close your eyes_. I will watch. I will protect as I've always done and she searched at the dirt next to her as if long ago it were still my shirt and she couldn't let go or she would fall.

_You'll be alright / no one can hurt you now_

I took longer to look away each time. Grew used to the fire and the way it sharpened her braids so that it hurt to look and I couldn't look away. Each time I held a second longer and for a second longer she could feel safe.

_Come morning light / You and I will be safe and sound_

We stayed there once. Curled in the woods while the sun rose and set and I could watch her sleep with that tune on her lips and her fingers in the dirt looking for my shirt.

_Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh_

I memorized the tune with no words and I sang it to myself when no one else could hear and yet could always hear it silent on her lips.

_La, La (La La)  
La, La (La La)_

She would pick it up after me and we would sing it quietly to one another. A song that had no words and a tune that we had both memorized and knew off by heart.

_Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh_

She sang it to me on our last night in the train. Lay on the blankets at my side and watched the sun through the window curved along the bend and golden on the walls. And I sang it back.

_La, La (La La)  
La, La (La La)_

I could hear as she sang it as she walked up to her interview and threw at those targets when I answered at the parade and when our scores were released. When the numbers counted down and I could see it silent on her lips and her hair silvered in the sun.

_Just close your eyes_

I sang it to her cold lips as I closed her eyes and brushed her hair back from her face and the collapse in her skull that was too soft under my fingers and made me for the first time feel like I had something to cry for

_You'll be alright_

She sang the wordless tune to me as I touched the space and knew it was too late, as I dug my fingers into the grass as if it were hers and I could keep her with me or let go and fall.

_Come morning light_

It was what I thought of as the sun rose and all I could see was red. When all I knew was blood and the tear of flesh and muscle and teeth and the memory of braids that could go silver and a song that knew no words.

_You and I will be safe and sound_

It was then that I understood. That the tune made sense and the silence had words and I could taste them in the air with the blood and a memory of a little girl who couldn't cry and sang those words instead to a memory she could no longer touch.

I love you.

_Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh  
Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, Oh, Oh_


End file.
